Oil and Water
by merope
Summary: Percy/Oliver slash. It’s Christmas for the Weasleys, but the idyllic mood is soon shattered as books and Quidditch don’t *generally* mix. Or so Percy thinks.
1. Part One

**Title: Oil and Water**

**Author: **celerysticks

**Summary: **Percy/Oliver slash.  It's Christmas for the Weasleys, but the idyllic mood is soon shattered as books and Quidditch don't _generally _mix.  Or so Percy thinks.

**Rating: **PG.

**E-mail: **red_five@sailormoon.com

**AIM: **kateishida

**Livejournal: **http://www.livejournal.com/users/celerysticks

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O I L   A N D   W A T E R By Celerysticks 

**PART ONE**

The Weasley house had never been quieter.  Molly Weasley nodded to herself in satisfaction as she stood in the sitting room's doorway, pointing her wand energetically at a batter mix she was making pancakes with, and watching over her brood.  This Christmas, Hermione's parents had to attend a conference in Switzerland, and had arranged for her to spend the holidays with her Jewish aunty, but Molly had snapped up the opportunity to invite both her and Harry to the Burrow.  Both had agreed wholeheartedly, and, as they both stammered their thanks to her most of the way through the first day, Molly knew that this was going to be a Christmas to remember.

She'd never seen the household so quiet, so peaceful.  All of her children were sat talking animatedly with Harry, playing a muggle game which had been Harry's gift to the family - a game of snakes and ladders that Dudley had thrown in the bin in a tantrum at losing to his Auntie Marge, and that Harry had rescued, and fixed.  He'd been working on it most of the autumn to Charm it so that the counters moved on their own, and the adders creaked, and the snakes hissed bad hints to the players.  Ron was hissing in frustration as he slid down another snake to the bottom of the board, and Bill was trying to surreptitiously cheat, but one of the snakes ratted him out to Ginny, and the snake pulled Bill's counter to square one.  Ron was bickering with the twins, and Harry was the only one really playing the game, while chatting animatedly to Charlie who was sat next to him.  Correction - _most _of her children were playing the game.  Percy was nowhere to be seen in the cramped but cosy sitting room.  She folded her arms and frowned, letting the bowl float in the air as the memory of Percy leaving earlier in the day with a mumbled excuse that could have been _library _or _shopping_ filtered through her consciousness.  

Well, that was her children accounted for.  Molly picked up the bowl again, and splattered batter on her arm and she waved her wand a little too energetically at the bowl.  On one of the worn, comfortable sofas, Hermione was chatting amicably with Arthur Weasley, her husband.  She would have interrupted their conversation, knowing how Arthur could go on a bit (and knowing exactly where Percy got _his _focussed rambling from) if Hermione hadn't been engrossed in the chat about Aurorship and the Ministry of Secrets.

It was all too perfect.

_"…I swear, if I knew at the beginning that you were going to be like this then I would have never –"_

Molly winced, and set the bowl to one side as the strident voice carried through the air from outside, and she sighed.  She just _had _to think that it was all perfect, didn't she?  Obviously she _hadn't _learned the Jinx Domino effect in History as well as she'd thought.  She wished she could remember the famous quite from Exedra the Sorcerer…  What was it again?  "_Don't speak so soon?  You'll always end up regretting it._"

Satisfied that her memory wasn't completely failing, but annoyed at the disruption, she started to move towards the source of the shouting.

"Never what?  Started it all in the first place?"  
  


Hermione was the second to hear that yelling from outside, and she frowned, getting up from the seat and following Molly out of the room.  "Hey, everyone, quiet," Ginny hissed, waving her hands at her brothers and Harry.  Almost as one, they all looked up to see Molly and Hermione disappear towards the source of the shouting.

"What is it, 'Mione?" Ron asked as they all crammed into the tiny kitchen.  Hermione glared at him and gestured at the door.  Arthur wrapped his arms around his wife, and they all quietly glanced at the door, fearful of what they might find on the other side.

"Sounds like Percy and someone else…." George said.  Fred elbowed him in the ribs and made a shushing sound.

"They're on the path," Ginny realised, running to the door and unbolting it.  The others curiously followed her and quietly assembled on the path.  It really was Percy, his face red from shouting, and his opponent was none other than an equally angry Oliver Wood.

"Oliver?" Ron breathed.

"Shut up!" Harry murmured back quickly.

"—as if you… I mean you just throw it all away.  I can't believe you can be so – so cold!"  Oliver clenched his fists and let them fall at his side.  "Right.  Fine.  All over as you wish."

The onlookers watched in amazement as Oliver brought out a book and threw it at Percy.  The redhead stared at it uncomprehendingly.

"Read this.  Then tell me you don't…  You don't…"  Oliver swallowed.  "Because that could be the only reason why you're being like this."

"Like what?" Percy snapped back irritably, unconsciously cradling the book in his arms.

Oliver grunted in irritation, cantankerously pushing his hair out of his eyes.  "I can't believe this.  Read the title of the book.  Then, if you want to talk, I'll be here at eight."

"At eight?"  
  


Oliver looked fractious on his feet as his eyes sparkled dangerously.   "I promised to meet Harry and Ron about letting them have some of tactic sheets for the Gryffindor team, Perce.  My entire world does _not _revolve around you!"

Oliver turned on his heel; face flushed and head down he ran off into the snow angrily.  Percy stared after him uncomprehendingly for a few seconds.

  
"Well-- that's just--" Percy spluttered uneasily, trailing off and sitting down in an inelegant heap on the snow, the book still grasped tightly in his hands.

"Percy?"  
  


Percy's head lurched up in shock to meet the curious gaze of his family and friends, and he stared at them his face tearstained and reddened.  "How -- how long have you been there?" He finally spluttered, getting uneasily to his feet and looking completely lost.

"Not long," Charlie assured quickly, starting forward to help his brother, but Percy pushed his hands away.

  
"You had no _right this was __private you--"  Percy just stared at them, his gaze wide like that of a rabbit trapped in headlights, and he couldn't take it.  Tears starting afresh, Percy brushed them away angrily and just ran; pushing past his family, Harry and Hermione like they weren't even there and thundering inside and up the stairs to his bedroom.  The entire house literally shook as he slammed the door shut._

"Elvis has _entered the building," Hermione quipped gently. _

Harry started to laugh.  

No-one else got it.

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	2. Part Two

**Title: Oil and Water**

**Author: **celerysticks

**Summary: **Percy/Oliver slash.  It's Christmas for the Weasleys, but the idyllic mood is soon shattered as books and Quidditch don't _generally _mix.  Or so Percy thinks.

**Rating: **PG.

**E-mail: **red_five@sailormoon.com

**AIM: **kateishida

**Livejournal: **http://www.livejournal.com/users/celerysticks

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O I L   A N D   W A T E R By Celerysticks PART TWO 

"Well, that was weird."

Ginny had sounded out those four words in her mind, deciding they didn't sound right there, and they didn't sound right now as she actually said them.  The others stared at her blankly, and she started to get defensive.

"Well, it _was_," Ginny protested.

  
"Really?" Fred asked, sarcasm curling his face as he folded his arms and looked up the stairs tentatively.

Harry shifted uncomfortably, and moved to go up the stairs, nodding at Charlie as he went.  The dragon breeder got the message, and started to follow Harry.

"Wait, are you sure that's a good idea?" Arthur Weasley asked, looking at Charlie with a helpless gaze.

"Him and Harry know Oliver the best," George explained.  "I think perhaps Charlie knows Percy the best, too."

The silence still lingered uncomfortably.  Molly picked up the bowl again, and gave it another jab with her wand.

"Anyone want pancakes?" She asked brightly.

-----

"Percy?"  
  


Charlie tried knocking at the door first, and Harry watched him from behind his thick-rimmed glasses curiously.

  
"_Go' way._"

Surprised, Charlie stepped backwards.  "He's never told me to go away before!"  
  


Harry rolled his eyes to the heavens, and unfolded his arms.  "Let me have a go."  He thudded the heel of his hand against the door heavily.  "Percy, you git, open the door and let me in."

"_No_."  There was a thud as something thudded against the door.  "_Get lost!  And shows how much the rest of the family gives a damn about me…  Sending you…Bet they didn't want to bother with the loser of the family…_"

Charlie brushed singed hairs away from his forehead irritably.  "Good going, Harry, now let me--"

Harry held up one hand, in the middle of Charlie's rant.  "Give me a moment."  He walked up to the door again, and rapped politely.  "You can't tell me to get lost, Percy.  I'm a guest in this house.  Etiquette dictates that you let me in if I ask."

There was silence, and the door creaked open sullenly.  Charlie stared at Harry in surprise.  "How did you--"

Harry shrugged.  "Even when upset, Percy follows the rules.  It's just… _him_…  Not the doing the rules, but the way he does it."

Charlie nodded, and followed Harry into the small room that Percy inhabited when he was at home.

"Percy?"  
  
The lanky redhead in question was hunched over his once-neatly ordered desk, obviously trying to stop the sobs that were wracking his body.  He didn't exactly have the _buffest _of physiques, and his thin frame was shaking with the intensity of his crying.  After a moment of composing himself, Percy turned to face the two intruders.

  
"I don't want to see either of you," Percy said bluntly.  That was Percy - usually honest and blunt with the truth.

"Tough," Charlie remarked, dropping down onto Percy's bed near the headboard and facing his brother squarely.  Harry echoed Charlie, folding his arms and sitting on the end of the bed, a curiously fierce expression on his face.   "We're here."

  
"And?"  
  


"And we're staying until we can help you through this," Harry finished determinedly.  "Which I hope is soon, because your mum is making some of her pancakes and you really need some meat on those bones of yours."

Percy managed a small laugh through the tears which were again falling.

"Why don't you start at the beginning," Charlie suggested, leaning forwards and squeezing Percy's knee supportively.

"I suppose.  That's always where a story starts, at the beginning."  Percy swivelled on the rickety chair that he'd inherited from his father's office, and faced Harry and Charlie squarely.  "But I don't know when the beginning to this story actually was.  It was probably…  sometime in the sixth year, when Penelope was… attacked… Or maybe it was even before then."

"Gosh, this doesn't have anything to do with the…  _Oh_…"  Charlie felt a sharp tap on his elbow from Harry as he interrupted Percy's explanation, but Charlie waved his hands at Harry for a second.  "Oliver Wood was the fourth year who was the keeper in my last year at Hogwarts, when I was captain."

Percy looked at Charlie with an inquisitive expression, his face looking gaunt in the poorly lit room.

Charlie shrugged.  "Oliver admitted he had a crush on one of my brothers after one of the matches…  Asked if it was okay…  I told him to tell whichever brother it _was_, but he wouldn't.  I figured it was a team effort to wind me up."  
  


"But it wasn't, was it?" Harry asked, frowning.  "That means… it must have been… _you_, Percy!"

Percy nodded miserably.  "He told me… he'd done that.  Seventh year.  Took him five years."

  
"So is this what that argument was all about?"  Charlie asked, incredulously.

Percy shook his head irritably.  "No, no, that was two years ago, moron.  He wouldn't still be angry about it now."

  
"What did you say when he told you?"  Harry's face was expressionless in the dark room, and Percy suddenly flushed and looked away, his expression answering the dozen questions bubbling up in Charlie's mind.

"I--"  Percy flushed darkly again.  "We've been dating for the last two years," Percy managed in a rush, then stopped, his gaze dropping to the ground.  "_Were _dating, anyway."

Charlie whistled lowly, and Harry nodded cautiously.

"What did you say to break it up?"  Harry asked flatly.

"Am I that transparent?"  Percy looked miserably at Harry.  "I guess… I'm scared, all right?  I never really contemplated the… the whole _lifestyle,_ the condemnation for just being who I am.  _What _I am."

"I get it," Harry said slowly.  "Perhaps I was right to come up here after all.  Percy -- you're still you, despite what you are.  Despite the fact that you go for guys instead of girls, or maybe both, I can't speak for you.  I can speak for me, and I know I'm scared as hell as to what other people would think of the fact that I…"

"That you --"  Percy looked at Harry, hardly daring to believe what he was saying.

"That I'm gay.  Like you."

-----


	3. Part Three

**Title: Oil and Water**

**Author: **celerysticks

**Summary: **Percy/Oliver slash.  It's Christmas for the Weasleys, but the idyllic mood is soon shattered as books and Quidditch don't _generally _mix.  Or so Percy thinks.

**Rating: **PG.

**E-mail: **red_five@sailormoon.com

**AIM: **kateishida

**Livejournal: **http://www.livejournal.com/users/celerysticks

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O I L   A N D   W A T E R By Celerysticks PART THREE 

Suddenly the whole conversation seemed to have switched Percy's interest from himself to Harry.  Charlie had to marvel at Harry's methods of getting his brother out of his shell.  It was clear to Percy from his earnest expression that Harry wasn't lying, and the way he was brazenly laying bear his soul to save _him…_ It made Percy start to look at the young magical legend in a whole new way.  What Harry was telling Percy took bravery, and Harry's unsure placement in Gryffindor was never looking surer.

  
"You--"  Percy looked shell-shocked, less sure of the notion that he was a total freak.  "_You're _gay, but I thought, I mean everyone knows of your crush on Cho Chang."  
  


Harry laughed nervously, sitting rigidly on the bed.  "That wasn't one of my better ideas," he laughed.  "I suppose I didn't know there could be any other way, until…  Well, this isn't a story about me.  This is a Percy day."  
  


Percy scowled.  

"I'd rather hear your story," Charlie said with a grin.  Harry turned and elbowed Charlie sharply in the ribs.

"Bitch," Harry retorted lightly.  "Anyway.  What did you say to piss Oliver off like that?"

Percy looked to the carpet again, studying the worn threads of the beige and brown pattern that swirled in dizzying spirals.

"I… got scared.  I mean,  he was talking of moving in together… And I guess I was just… scared.  I was just scared."

"And you couldn't tell him that," Charlie responded flatly.  
  


"Well, no…"  Percy shifted uncomfortably.

  
"You broke up with him because you couldn't tell him you were _scared_," Harry reiterated.  "You bloody moron."

Percy gazed at Harry, the insult coming as a shock to his system, made more startling by the fact that Harry was being nice to him.  "What--"  
  


"He means Oliver will be scared too.  If you just talked it over, you'd probably realise you were both being silly.  Being with him makes you feel like everything is _right_, correct?"  Charlie stared flatly at Percy.

Percy nodded.

  
"Like nothing could go wrong?" Harry stared at Percy, his gaze curiously intent once more.

Percy nodded again.

"Like the whole world would stand still for the both of you if you merely asked it to?"  
  


Percy nodded yet again.

  
"What did you say?"  Harry finally asked for the third  time.

"I told him…  It would never work out…  Books and Quidditch just _don't _match, I mean, have you ever seen anyone reading while flying a broomstick?  It just…  it doesn't work!"  Percy's voice raised to a crescendo, and he broke out into loud sobs again.  Charlie moved forwards and enveloped his brother in a fierce hug while communicating with Harry with a fierce stare.  Harry got the message, and got up off the bed to pick the book Oliver had thrown at Percy earlier and which Percy had accidentally dropped in his misery.

Harry started to laugh, and Percy pulled away from Charlie and glared at Harry miserably.

"Oliver is pretty determined to keep you, Percy," Harry said, a warm smile on his face.  "I suggest you grovel.  If being with him is what you want."

"It is," Percy admitted through his tears.  "Oh goddess, it is."

Harry handed the book to Charlie, who took it and read the title with a grin.  "Percy, you really _have _screwed up.  Books and Quidditch _do _match, you moron."

Percy scowled at the same insult that this time came from Charlie.  "_What are you two twittering on about now?"_ He demanded.  Charlie passed Percy the book.  The green book had the words "_Quidditch Through the Ages"_ sprawled across the jacket, the author's name _Kennilworthy Wisp _printed neatly underneath.  "I don't get it."

Charlie shook his head, and squeezed Percy's shoulder.  "It's a book," Charlie said simply.  Percy gazed at Charlie as if the dragon breeder had gone mad (which, Percy reflected later, someone who willingly works with beasts that can snap you in half or burn you to a crisp in seconds _must _be) and Harry took pity on Percy.

  
"It's a Quidditch book," Harry added on gently.

Percy stared at Harry for a long, long second before dropping his gaze to the book.  He let his fingers drift along the upraised words of the title before looking up at Charlie and Harry, who were now stood next to each other and looking at him with identical warm smiles.

"How much grovelling do you think I'll have to do?" Percy asked, his voice sounding small in the room.

"I think you're going to be wearing out your jeans faster than the twins can," Harry replied with a grin.  Percy bit his lip.

"He'll say yes, right?"

Charlie, irritated, hit the back of Percy's head lightly.  "He'd be an idiot not to."

"Right."  Still worried, Percy sank his head into his hands before looking curiously at Harry.  "Do I get to hear your story yet?"

Harry looked confused for a second before exchanging a glance with Charlie and blushing.

"Well -- you remember the TriWizard ball?"

Percy nodded slowly.  "Don't say Parvati Patil steering you around like a _show dog _made you gay, because that's such a cliché…"

Harry shook his head, brushing one hand through his unruly mess of night-coloured hair.  "No.  Well, when I stayed here for the last week of the summer, I got taught to dance by someone.  Someone who kissed me, and kind of made me realise I was gay."

Percy bit his lip, confused, as he looked up at Harry who was blushing furiously.

  
"Someone?"  Percy frowned.  "Someone _here_?  Who?"

Charlie laughed, and Percy glanced at his older brother angrily, wanting to hear Harry's response, but none was needed.  Charlie grinned innocently at Percy, before slapping Harry on the arse and sauntering cheerfully out of the room.

Percy gazed opened mouthed at Harry, then at Charlie's retreating back.  "You -- you--"

Harry gesticulated wildly for a second, before eventually shrugging.

"He's _seven years _your senior!" Percy exclaimed.

Harry shrugged again.

Percy decided that not only was Charlie mad, not only was _he  _mad for not voicing his fears to Oliver, but the entire _world _must be mad.

-----

[_To be continued_]  
  



End file.
